(AgapePress) – Christian teachers in public schools that censor religious expression during Christmastime are being advised to respectfully educate their superiors on what can and cannot legally be done to celebrate Christmas on campus.
This time of year many Christian teachers are finding themselves at odds with school policies that ban use of the words “Christmas” or “Christ” in December events. Steve Crampton, an attorney with the American Family Association Center for Law & Policy (CLP), has some advice. He says while teachers certainly owe allegiance and respect to their employer, they should contact groups — such as the CLP — that can take quick action to correct instances of Christmas censorship.
But before taking that step, Crampton suggests teachers respectfully approach their employers to explain that the law is, as he puts it, “perfectly accommodating” on such points. “Try to educate the school officials who, oftentimes, are working off of the talking points of the ACLU and the Left,” he advises, asserting those officials have “just gotten bad information.”
Crampton notes that teachers are perfectly within their constitutional rights to share the Christmas story or sing Christmas carols with their students. He cites a recent legal case he feels is relevant.
“The comparison here,” he says, “ought to be drawn to the very recent case out of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals with regard to the court upholding the right of the schools to force students to engage in role-playing of Muslim pilgrims and so forth.”
He adds that if anything, that incident is “a far more extreme example of religion and coercion in the public schools” than merely reciting the Christmas story.”

OK, now I’m mad. Enough of this nonsense from liberal educators. First they keep removing Christmas from the vocabulary of our kids because they think it’s “not inclusive enough” or “an endorsement of religion” and now they are just blatantly rewriting one of the most popular Christmas carols ever to make it secular. Enough!!

For a performance in its “winter program,” a Wisconsin elementary school has changed the beloved Christmas carol “Silent Night,” calling the song “Cold in the Night” and secularizing the lyrics.
According to Liberty Counsel, a religious-liberty law firm representing a student’s parent, kids who attend Ridgeway Elementary School in Dodgeville, Wis., will sing the following lyrics to the tune of “Silent Night”:
Cold in the night, no one in sight, winter winds whirl and bite, how I wish I were happy and warm, safe with my family out of the storm.
Liberty Counsel says this year’s winter program included decorating classrooms with Santa Claus, Kwanzaa symbols, menorahs and Labafana, a mythical witch that’s a part of traditional Christmas celebrations in Italy.
A letter the law group sent to the school demands a change in the winter program. Liberty Counsel attorneys say they are prepared to file suit if the Dodgeville School District does not immediately remedy the situation.
“For those who deny that there is a war on Christmas, the Wisconsin school district is exhibit A,” Mathew Staver, Liberty Counsel president and general counsel, said in a statement. “The law is clear – Christmas is constitutional. When a public school intentionally mocks Christian Christmas songs by secularizing their content, they cross the line from a neutral position, which the Constitution requires, to a hostile position, which the Constitution forbids. Changing ‘Silent Night’ to ‘Cold in the Night’ – come on, let’s stop this madness! Does the school not realize that Christmas is a national holiday?”
Controversy over Christmas and its celebration in the public square has reached a fever pitch this year with battles raging over everything from what to call evergreen trees to whether or not retailers allow their employees to wish customers a “merry Christmas.”
“Silent Night” is the most recorded song in history. The carol was written by Franz Gruber and Joseph Mohr. Gruber led the singing of his new song for the first time during an 1818 Christmas Eve service in Oberndorf, Austria, accompanying the choir on guitar.
Julie Piper, principal of Ridgeway Elementary, did not return a call by press time.

Mel Gibson is reported to be developing a TV miniseries about the Holocaust. If he purses this with as much enthusiasm as he did “The Passion of the Christ”, we are in for a treat.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Mel Gibson is stirring passions again with his latest project — a nonfiction TV movie set against the backdrop of the Holocaust.
Gibson’s Con Artist Productions is developing ”Flory” for ABC, based on the true story of a Dutch Jew named Flory Van Beek and her non-Jewish boyfriend who sheltered her from the Nazis, The New York Times and Variety reported in Wednesday editions.
Critics claimed Gibson’s blockbuster film ”Passion of the Christ” was anti-Semitic, a charge Gibson has denied. Gibson’s father also is on the record denying that the Holocaust took place.
”For (Gibson) to be associated with this movie is cause for concern,” Rafael Medoff, director of the David S. Wyman Institute for Holocaust Studies in Melrose Park, Pa., told the Times. ”He needs to come clean that he repudiates Holocaust denial.”
Gibson was in Mexico working on his upcoming film ”Apocalypto” and couldn’t be reached for comment.
Quinn Taylor, ABC’s senior vice president in charge of television movies, had a harsh reply for early critics.
”Shut up and wait to see the movie, and then judge,” Taylor, who oversaw ABC’s Emmy-winning miniseries ”Anne Frank,” told Variety. ”I’m not about to rewrite history. I’m going to explore an amazing love story that we can all learn from and, hopefully, be inspired by.”
As recounted in the 1998 memoir ”Flory: Survival in the Valley of Death,” Van Beek and her husband survived the sinking of their ship as they tried to flee Holland, then three years of hiding during the German occupation.
The movie has not been formally green-lighted and wouldn’t air until at least the 2006-07 season.
Link to original article.

Here is the account from the New York Times’ David M. Halbfinger:

LOS ANGELES, Dec. 6 – Mel Gibson, whose “Passion of the Christ” was criticized by some as anti-Semitic – and whose father has said that the Holocaust did not happen – is developing a nonfiction mini-series about the Holocaust.
Flory A. Van Beek, a Dutch Jew whose memoir will be the basis for the proposed mini-series. Mr. Gibson’s television production company will base the four-hour miniseries for ABC on the self-published memoir of Flory A. Van Beek, a Dutch Jew whose gentile neighbors hid her from the Nazis but who lost several relatives in concentration camps.
The project is in its early stages, so there is no guarantee that it will be completed. Mr. Gibson is not expected to act in the mini-series, nor is it certain that his name, rather than his company’s, will be publicly attached to the final product, according to several people involved in developing it.
But Quinn Taylor, ABC’s senior vice president for movies for television, acknowledged that the attention-getting value of having Mr. Gibson attached to a Holocaust project was a factor.
“Controversy’s publicity, and vice versa,” Mr. Taylor said.
Mr. Gibson’s father, Hutton Gibson, has repeatedly denied that the Holocaust happened. Before the release of “The Passion of the Christ,” Hutton Gibson said that accounts of the Holocaust were mostly “fiction” and asserted that there were more Jews in Europe after World War II than before.
Link to original article.

Notice how the liberals at the NYT couldn’t wait to get make the point that some believe that “The Passion of the Christ” was anti-Semitic and that his dad (Gibson’s not Christ’s) don’t believe the holocaust ever happened. Whatever!! I admire Mr. Gibson for ignoring his critics and making movies that speak of faith and suffering of Christians and Jews through the ages. God Bless you Mr. Gibson.

The United Nations held a “Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People” last week. A large map of “Palestine,” with Israel literally wiped off the map, featured prominently in the festivities.

The meeting was attended by Secretary General Kofi Annan and the Presidents of the UN Security Council and the General Assembly.

During the festivities, a map labeled a “map of Palestine” was displayed prominently between UN and PLO flags. The map, with “Palestine” written in Arabic atop it, does not include Israel, a member of the UN for 56 years. The map does not even demarcate the partition lines of November 29, 1947, marking a Jewish state alongside an Arab state. The partition was dictated by the UN General Assembly itself.

Spewing more hate towards Israel and Jews, Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Europe, specifically Germany and Austria, should set aside territory for the Jews and move them from Israel. This would remove the Jewish “tumor” from the land. Read about his hate filled lunacy below.

Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that if Germany and Austria feel responsible for massacring Jews, Israel should be moved there instead.
Mr Ahmadinejad, who sparked an international outcry in October when he said Israel “must be wiped off the map”, also repeated his view that the Jewish state was a “tumour”.
He added: “Now that you believe the Jews were oppressed, why should the Palestinian Muslims have to pay the price?” the hard-line president asked in an interview with Iran’s Arabic-language satellite channel, Al-Alam.
“Why did you come to give a piece of Islamic land and the territory of the Palestinian people to them?

Keep in mind that this man was one of the terrorist who held Americans during the Iranian embassy crisis (so poorly handled by then President Jimmy Carter). I think it’s safe to say we don’t want this guy having nukes. I wonder if someone needs to remind him just how much of our military is sitting in the country next to him. Hummmmm…

Spewing more hate towards Israel and Jews, Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that Europe, specifically Germany and Austria, should set aside territory for the Jews and move them from Israel. This would remove the Jewish “tumor” from the land. Read about his hate filled lunacy below.

Iran’s hard-line President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said that if Germany and Austria feel responsible for massacring Jews, Israel should be moved there instead.
Mr Ahmadinejad, who sparked an international outcry in October when he said Israel “must be wiped off the map”, also repeated his view that the Jewish state was a “tumour”.
He added: “Now that you believe the Jews were oppressed, why should the Palestinian Muslims have to pay the price?” the hard-line president asked in an interview with Iran’s Arabic-language satellite channel, Al-Alam.
“Why did you come to give a piece of Islamic land and the territory of the Palestinian people to them?

Keep in mind that this man was one of the terrorist who held Americans during the Iranian embassy crisis (so poorly handled by then President Jimmy Carter). I think it’s safe to say we don’t want this guy having nukes. I wonder if someone needs to remind him just how much of our military is sitting in the country next to him. Hummmmm…

Well, I must admit that I didn’t expect the “war on Christmas” to be missing this important ally, but I guess even the President of the United States has caved to political correctness.
(Hat Tip to my Wonderful Wife…Thanks Honey!!)

By Alan CoopermanThe Washington PostPublished December 7, 2005

WASHINGTON — What’s missing from the White House Christmas card? Christmas.This month, as in every December since he took office, President Bush sent out cards with a generic end-of-the-year message, wishing 1.4 million of his close friends and supporters a happy “holiday season.”Many people are thrilled to get a White House Christmas card, no matter what the greeting. But some conservative Christians are reacting as if Bush stuck coal in their stockings.”This clearly demonstrates that the Bush administration has suffered a loss of will and that they have capitulated to the worst elements in our culture,” said William Donohue, president of the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights.Bush “claims to be a born-again, evangelical Christian. But he sure doesn’t act like one,” said Joseph Farah, editor of the conservative Web site WorldNetDaily.com. “I threw out my White House card as soon as I got it.”Religious conservatives are miffed because they have been pressuring stores to advertise Christmas sales rather than “holiday specials” and urging schools to let students out for Christmas vacation rather than for “winter break.” They celebrated when House Speaker Dennis Hastert (R-Ill.) insisted that the sparkling spectacle on the Capitol lawn should be called the Capitol Christmas Tree, not a holiday spruce.Then along comes a generic season’s greeting from the White House, paid for by the Republican National Committee. The cover art, from a painting by artist Jamie Wyeth, is also secular, if not humanist: It shows the presidential pets–two dogs and a cat–frolicking on a snowy White House lawn.”Certainly President and Mrs. Bush, because of their faith, celebrate Christmas,” said Susan Whitson, the first lady’s press secretary. “Their cards in recent years have included best wishes for a holiday season, rather than Christmas wishes, because they are sent to people of all faiths.”That is the same rationale offered by major retailers for generic holiday catalogs, and it is accepted by groups such as the National Council of Churches. “I think it’s more important to put Christ back into our war planning than into our Christmas cards,” said the council’s general secretary, Rev. Bob Edgar, a former Democratic congressman.

(Note: This was supposed to post yesterday, but for some reason did not. -ed.)

In honor of our World War II vets, especially those who were at Pearl Harbor on December 7th, 1941, I wanted to post this photo montage.
Let us honor all of our veterans, no matter which era they served our country.

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s Infamy Speech
December 8, 1941

“Yesterday, December 7, 1941 – a date which will live in infamy – the United States of America was suddenly and deliberately attacked by naval and air forces of the Empire of Japan.
The United States was at peace with that nation and, at the solicitation of Japan, was still in conversation with its Government and its Emperor looking toward the maintenance of peace in the Pacific. Indeed, one hour after Japanese air squadrons had commenced bombing in Oahu, the Japanese Ambassador to the United States and his colleague delivered to the Secretary of State a formal reply to a recent American message. While this reply stated that it seemed useless to continue the existing diplomatic negotiations, it contained no threat or hint of war or armed attack.
It will be recorded that the distance of Hawaii from Japan makes it obvious that the attack was deliberately planned many days or even weeks ago. During the intervening time the Japanese Government has deliberately sought to deceive the United States by false statements and expressions of hope for continued peace.
The attack yesterday on the Hawaiian Islands has caused severe damage to American naval and military forces. Very many American lives have been lost. In addition American ships have been reported torpedoed on the high seas between San Francisco and Honolulu.
Yesterday the Japanese Government also launched an attack against Malaya. Last night Japanese forces attacked Hong Kong. Last night Japanese forces attacked Guam. Last night Japanese forces attacked the Philippine Islands. Last night the Japanese attacked Wake Island. This morning the Japanese attacked Midway Island.
Japan has, therefore, undertaken a surprise offensive extending throughout the Pacific area. The facts of yesterday speak for themselves. The people of the United States have already formed their opinions and well understand the implications to the very life and safety of our nation.
As Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy, I have directed that all measures be taken for our defense.
Always will we remember the character of the onslaught against us. No matter how long it may take us to overcome this premeditated invasion, the American people in their righteous might will win through to absolute victory.
I believe I interpret the will of the Congress and of the people when I assert that we will not only defend ourselves to the uttermost but will make very certain that this form of treachery shall never endanger us again.
Hostilities exist. There is no blinking at the fact that our people, our territory and our interests are in grave danger.
With confidence in our armed forces – with the unbounded determination of our people – we will gain the inevitable triumph – so help us God.
I ask that the Congress declare that since the unprovoked and dastardly attack by Japan on Sunday, December seventh, a state of war has existed between the United States and the Japanese Empire.”

The Birth of John the Baptist Foretold 5 In the time of Herod king of Judea there was a priest named Zechariah, who belonged to the priestly division of Abijah; his wife Elizabeth was also a descendant of Aaron. 6 Both of them were upright in the sight of God, observing all the Lord’s commandments and regulations blamelessly. 7 But they had no children, because Elizabeth was barren; and they were both well along in years.
8 Once when Zechariah’s division was on duty and he was serving as priest before God, 9 he was chosen by lot, according to the custom of the priesthood, to go into the temple of the Lord and burn incense. 10 And when the time for the burning of incense came, all the assembled worshipers were praying outside.
11 Then an angel of the Lord appeared to him, standing at the right side of the altar of incense. 12 When Zechariah saw him, he was startled and was gripped with fear. 13 But the angel said to him: “Do not be afraid, Zechariah; your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elizabeth will bear you a son, and you are to give him the name John. 14 He will be a joy and delight to you, and many will rejoice because of his birth, 15 for he will be great in the sight of the Lord. He is never to take wine or other fermented drink, and he will be filled with the Holy Spirit even from birth.[a] 16 Many of the people of Israel will he bring back to the Lord their God. 17 And he will go on before the Lord, in the spirit and power of Elijah, to turn the hearts of the fathers to their children and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous—to make ready a people prepared for the Lord.”
18 Zechariah asked the angel, “How can I be sure of this? I am an old man and my wife is well along in years.”
19 The angel answered, “I am Gabriel. I stand in the presence of God, and I have been sent to speak to you and to tell you this good news. 20 And now you will be silent and not able to speak until the day this happens, because you did not believe my words, which will come true at their proper time.”
21 Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Zechariah and wondering why he stayed so long in the temple. 22 When he came out, he could not speak to them. They realized he had seen a vision in the temple, for he kept making signs to them but remained unable to speak.
23 When his time of service was completed, he returned home. 24 After this his wife Elizabeth became pregnant and for five months remained in seclusion. 25 “The Lord has done this for me,” she said. “In these days he has shown his favor and taken away my disgrace among the people.”
Footnotes:Luke 1:15 Or from his mother’s womb

As a regular blood donor, I can say that the guidelines for that are very strict, I can imagine how strict they would be in an organ donation. I can’t fault the doctors for being cautious in these situations. Keep in mind that a person getting an organ transplant is already very weak and sick. They don’t need further complications brought about by getting a disease from someone with contaminated organs.

(AgapePress) – Friends and family of a Tucson man are crying discrimination after the homosexual man’s organs were rejected by the Donor Network of Arizona. However, a Kansas surgeon who works in organ transplantation says the decision was a good one.
Albert Soto, 51, intended to donate his eyes and other tissues after death, but a spokesman from the Network says the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta has established guidelines allowing centers to reject donations from men who have had sex with men in the last five years. Dr. David Pauls, a spokesman for the Christian Medical Association, says those guidelines are needed regardless — even if the donor is HIV negative, as in Soto’s case.
“Number one, HIV in early stages cannot be detected on testing; it takes a little bit [of time] there,” Pauls explains. “But even if he’s HIV negative, there’s other infectious diseases that are fairly common within the homosexual population — particularly hepatitis, which can be a very deadly complication in somebody who receives a transplant, and that sometimes also can be missed by screening.”
Pauls says the organ donation and transplant business is heavily reliant on trust. “Trust is probably one of the most valuable commodities we have,” he says. “If I … as a physician am going to be doing a transplant, I’m want to do everything I can to make sure that the organs or the tissue that I’m transplanting is safe and is not going to cause other problems or other diseases in that patient.”
Transplant patients, he says, obviously should have the same concerns. In Soto’s case, Pauls says the man’s risky sexual behavior makes using his organs a high risk for the recipient, who otherwise might be put in a position of being exposed to deadly infections. Meanwhile, Soto’s family is petitioning officials in Tucson to change the CDC guidelines. The man died after suffering a stroke on Thanksgiving Day.

The liberals of this country would like nothing better then to see the United States made into a socialist nation, but what people don’t stop to consider is that when you let the government take control of your life, you give up so many freedoms. Take France today…there is a good chance that they will not be allowed to worship God and spread the Gospel freely anymore, all on the whim of some French politicians. This is what liberals what for us. Many have problems with some of the things the conservatives are doing today, but do you really want to trade it off for a group who’s aim is to do this type of thing to us eventually?

(AgapePress) – A Messianic Jewish leader believes the political winds in France could go either way when it comes to religious freedom for Christians. The Jewish evangelist thinks the tide has changed somewhat.
Stephen Pacht spent 14 years in France serving as station chief for Jew for Jesus in Paris until his transfer to London this summer. The Messianic Jewish believer says many Christians in France believe their religious freedom of speech is being curtailed by the government. “That remains to be seen,” he says — but notes hopefully that some in the government are sympathetic to Christians.
“I think the tide has changed somewhat,” he offers. “You can see the tensions within the French political system. You’ve got the more conservative part, which is in power at the moment” — particularly from the French Minister of the Interior Nicolas Sarkozy, who Pacht says is “sympathetic to Christians.”
But Pacht says then there are those who are against Christians: “[Y]ou have the traditional, more socialist-leaning politicians who are opposed to Christians,” he shares. “So we see that tension within French politics — and Christians don’t know which way the wind is going to blow.”
Pacht says Christians both within and outside of France need to pray that God will continue to open doors so that the gospel is preached “with confidence and assurance.

Matthew 28:19Therefore go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in[a] the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

Mark 3:14He appointed twelve—designating them apostles[a]—that they might be with him and that he might send them out to preach

Mark 16:15
He said to them, “Go into all the world and preach the good news to all creation.